Witness: Whiskey shots preceded fatal wreck with bicycle

Updated 6:30 am, Wednesday, October 2, 2013

SAN ANTONIO – A man described by a friend as having indulged in whiskey shots prior to swerving off U.S. 181, where his truck slammed head-on into a bicyclist, was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison.

Ruben Nerio, 41, agreed to the term last week after pleading no contest to failure to stop and render aid after a wreck that caused death. The charge is a third-degree felony, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Bicyclist Eluterio Borrego, 53, was traveling against traffic on an improved shoulder of the divided highway when he was struck about 9 p.m. on June 18, 2010, according to court documents. His family told police he had just left their nearby Southeast Side home to get some exercise.

Footage of I-10 closed and the trafficGodofredo Vasquez, Houston Chronicle

North Texas storms continueFox4

AT&T Names First Cities to Get 5G NetworkWibbitz

Bridging police & young minority studentsFox 26 Houston

The 'Black Panther' effectFox 26 Houston

100 Boys March against violenceFox 26 Houston

Isiah Factor Uncensored celebrates crawfish seasonFox 26 Houston

NASA engineer approved for proton therapyFox 26 Houston

10 p.m. Feb. 20 FOXRAD ForecastFox 26 Houston

Witnesses to the wreck said the truck was traveling about 75 or 80 mph when it swerved into the bicyclist, then into the grassy shoulder of the highway without stopping. The vehicle came to a stop in a parking lot about 700 feet away but fled the scene about 30 seconds later, court documents state.

Because sheriff's investigators didn't focus on Nerio as a suspect until several days after the collision, when an anonymous call led them to Nerio's battered company vehicle, he was never tested for intoxication.

“He's really, really remorseful for what happened,” defense attorney Scott McCrum said Tuesday, after members of Borrego's family declined to give a victim impact statement. “He feels it was an accident.”

A co-worker told investigators that Nerio, who was known to friends as “Butch,” had called her earlier that evening with speech so slurred that she couldn't understand what he was saying. She met him later at Brooks Pub, where she watched him order Jack Daniel's whiskey shots and Budweiser, according to court documents.

DNA found on Nerio's vehicle was later determined to match the victim's.